//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Spirit Battles // Story: Light and Darkness // by FandomPlays1234 //------------------------------// Starlight yawned as she sat up. Groggily looking next to her Kirby was still fast asleep. She stretched out her hoofs and got up. Slowly she made her way out of the cave only to be greeted by a large ray of light. She looked up to see the sun shining brightly. "Strange yesterday there were so many dark clouds covering the sky and yet today is so sunny, could this be another effect of Galeem?" Starlight mumbled to herself. Starlight's ears twitched as she heard the soft sound of footsteps. She turned around as Kirby walked out yawning. "Good morning sleepy head, did you sleep well?" Starlight asked with a smile. "Poyo!" Kirby replied with a smile. "Sleepy head that's cute," Sylveon chuckled. Starlight turned as Sylveon and Smoky Progg appeared behind her. "No it's not like that," said Starlight blushing. "Don't jump to conclusions alright?" "Ok, ok sorry," said Sylveon chuckled. "We should probably start heading out," suggested Smoky Progg. "But where exactly are we gonna go?" asked Starlight. "Follow me," said Smoky Progg as flew off. Starlight looked at Kirby and shrugged. Kirby didn't say anything and followed him with Starlight and Sylveon tagging behind. They eventually followed Smoky Progg to an opening between two canyons. "Over there," said Smoky Progg looking out towards the distance. Starlight followed his gaze to see a large blue orb floating above the clouds. Looking through, Starlight could see a large entity with multiple shiny colorful wings surrounding an orb of light in the center. "Is that?" asked Starlight. "Yes, that is Galeem, the Lord of Light," answered Smoky Progg. "Galeem," Starlight repeated. The vision of the Crystal Empire attack replayed in her mind. She lost Twilight, Cadence, Spike, Flurry Heart, everyone she ever cared and loved had their lives robbed by that monster. She clenched her teeth as she growled. "That monster," "I believe that if we defeat Galeem, then we can return everything the way it was before," said Smoky Progg. "But we can't do it alone, we need your help," said Smoky Progg looking at Starlight and Kirby. "Of course," Starlight replied without hesitation. "Wait really?" asked Sylveon. Starlight nodded. "That thing had killed some of the ponies that I loved the most, I can't forgive anyone who would do such a terrible thing," Starlight growled. "Gee Star, sounds like you want to feed Galeem your full course special of vengeance," said Smoky Progg. "You said it yourself, if we defeat Galeem then everything will return to normal," said Starlight. "Don't you want to rest in piece?" "Of course, we all do," answered Smoky Progg. "Then let's not waste time," said Starlight. She began following the path that was in front of her. "Oh and as for that nickname, I'll take it," Kirby ran after Starlight with Sylveon following them. "She really is something," said Smoky Progg following them. "I assume this path leads to Galeem?" asked Starlight. "Most likely," answered Smoky Progg. "Wait stop," said Sylveon. The three halted and turned around. "Look ahead," said Sylveon. The group turned back around to see a blue dinosaur with a big nose, purple shoes and a saddle. It's glowing red eyes glared at the group. It had two racoon ears sticking out of it's head and a racoon tail swishing back and forth. It held a white and red ball and a small light hovered in the back. "Another puppet fighter with a spirit it seems," said Smoky Progg. "If I remember correctly this dinosaur is called Yoshi, and the spirit that's controlling it is my pre evolution Eevee," said Sylveon. "Well there's only one so it shouldn't be too difficult," said Starlight. However the moment she made that observation, two more appeared next to the blue one. One was yellow with green shoes, racoon ears and tail. The third was red with dark blue shoes and held a plate of food. All three glared at them with glowing red eyes and had the Eevee spirit supporting them. "I regret everything I just said," said Starlight. Kirby walked over and tapped her on the hoof. "Hmm what is it?" asked Starlight. "Poyo," said Kirby with a determined look. "It seems like he wants to help you," said Sylveon. Kirby nodded. Starlight smiled. "Thanks Kirby," said Starlight. The two turned their attention on the three Yoshi and prepared for battle. Sylveon hovered over and began sending her power into Starlight. "Come at me," she said. The blue Yoshi transformed into an egg and rolled over to her. Starlight evaded the attack and quickly kicked Yoshi in the face. Kirby rushed forward to deal with the other two Yoshi. Starlight rolled to the left as Yoshi extended his tongue to try and grab her. Starlight saw her chance and rushed forward to grab Yoshi. Yoshi struggled to break free as Starlight as she pounded him with her hoofs. After knocking pain into Yoshi enough times she tossed him in the air and blasted him with magic and sent him flying. "How'd you like that?" snickered Starlight. Yoshi immediately recovered as was coming back. Starlight charged up her magic and right when Yoshi appeared in front of her, she blasted him. Yoshi eyes widened as the blast exploded near him causing him to fall on the ground and erupt into a burst of light. "Heh, how'd you like that?" Starlight snickered. "Hey Kirby how are you doing?" asked Starlight. She turned around to see what Kirby was doing. "Poyo!" replied Kirby. Starlight was surprised to see that Kirby had already defeated the other two Yoshi and was standing next to the rock statue. "Hey, well done," said Starlight. She grabbed her statue and threw it in the center. The three spirits emerged from the statues and merged into one. "Owie," said a distant voice. "Urk sorry did we hit you hard?" asked Starlight. "Maybe," whimpered the spirit. "Ack sorry buddy," apologized Starlight. Kirby bowed his head showing he was sorry as well. "Nah it's ok," said the spirit. "Are you sure?" asked Starlight. "Yeah, thanks for freeing me though," said the spirit. Just like the puppet Mario, the three Yoshi statues cracked and turned into dust. "Whoa," said the spirit. "Anyway nice meeting you here Eevee," said Sylveon. "Wha, Sylveon you too?" asked Eevee. "Unfortunately yes," said Sylveon. "Anyway let me introduce you to my friends, Starlight, Kirby, and Smoky Progg," "Hiya, I'm Eevee," laughed the spirit. The group introduced themselves and said their greetings. Afterwards Sylveon turned to Starlight. "Shall we move on?" asked Sylveon. Starlight nodded. "Got it," said Sylveon. Now with Eevee joining the group. Starlight and her friends continued down the road and it wasn't long until they saw the next roadblock. This time it was a small pink puff like Kirby only this one it had a small curl on it's forehead and a big bow on it's head. The spirit was a red owl with a pink bow on it's head and peach and white colored diamond pattern on it's chest. "Ah it's Jigglypuff," said Eevee. "The spirit?" asked Starlight. "No I don't know who the spirit is but the puppet is Jigglypuff," answered Eevee. "Well she doesn't look so tough," said Starlight. She looked at the puppet and realized she was gone. "Wait where'd she go?" asked Starlight. "Um you might wanna look down," said Smoky Progg. Starlight looked down and saw the puff standing there with her glowing red eyes. "Uh what?" asked Starlight. Before she could do anything Jigglypuff jumped and pounded into her so hard it knocked her into the air. Starlight landed on the ground hard and groaned. "What the hay was that?" asked Starlight. She looked over and saw that Jigglypuff had fallen asleep. "You just got hit by her rest," said Sylveon. "Her what?" asked Starlight. "Her rest, a move that can do devastating damage and leave the user asleep and unable to move for a while," said Sylveon. "Well that sounds dangerous to both of us," said Starlight. Suddenly Jigglypuff grabbed Starlight and began pounding her. "Ouch let me go!" Starlight screamed. As Jigglypuff was beating on her, she noticed Kirby sneaking up on Jigglypuff with a burning hammer over his head. Starlight nodded as Kirby got closer. Starlight smirked as Kirby was now right behind Jigglypuff. But just as he was able to swing it into Jigglypuff, she quickly let go of Starlight and held her arms over her face creating a shield around her. "Shoot so close," said Starlight. But it was then she noticed that Kirby hadn't swung the hammer yet and noticed that the shield around Jigglypuff was growing smaller. "Wait what?" asked Starlight. After several seconds of waiting, Kirby swung the hammer with full force causing the shield to break and sent Jigglypuff flying into the air. Starlight looked up as Jigglypuff disappeared into the clouds. Not long after she went flying a large boom could be heard and a stone statue of Jiggly puff came crashing down. Starlight yelped as she moved out of the way. "Haha shieldbreaker!" laughed Smoky Progg. "What?" asked Starlight. "A shieldbreaker, it's a smash term in which a fighter breaks another's shield while they're protecting themselves," explained Eevee. "For Jigglypuff it's an instant KO," "Well that's brutal," said Starlight. Suddenly the spirit emerged looking dazed. "Ouch," said the spirit. "Hey sorry about that," said Starlight. "You HAD to hit me with the hammer at full force didn't you?" asked the spirit. "Sorry," apologized Starlight. Kirby bowed his head apologizing as well. "Well at least you freed me so I can let it slide," said the spirit. "I'm Celeste by the way," The group introduced to Celeste and watched as the Jigglypuff statue shattered into dust. "So I assume you folks are heading to Galeem?" asked Celeste. "Yes, we're truly fortunate to have Starlight here," said Smoky Progg. 'Well then I hope you wouldn't mind if I tagged along," said Celeste. "No, no problems," said Eevee. "Well then thanks for having me," said Celeste. She slowly hovered over to Starlight's side. "Alright let's keep going," said Starlight. The group continued to walk down the path and for a while it seemed like no other puppets were waiting to stop them. After a while they saw an entrance to a small village with someone blocking the gate. "It's about time," said Starlight. It wasn't until they got closer that Starlight noticed that the figure was starting to look familiar. "Hey Sylveon I feel like we've seen this guy before," said Starlight. "Well now that you mention it, he DOES look familiar," said Sylveon. They stopped several feet away from the figure and it wasn't until they turned around that Starlight realized who this was. The figure wore a blue overall with a red shirt and hat with the letter M on the center of his hat. He had a mustache on his face and large round nose. He glared at Starlight and her friends with glowing red eyes. "No it can't be," stammered Starlight. "It is," said Smoky Progg. "And actually this is the real one I think," "It's Mario," said Sylveon.